Who that Beggar was?

[Guest guest]

Who that Beggar was?

 

I had been to Shirdi for Dasara festival. It was on the Vjjayadasami day,

when the Lord Dattatreya incarnate Shri Sai Baba left off mortal coil. That

was my twenty third visit to Shirdi. Though I am a regular r to

'Shri Sai Leela', yet I purchased the Punyatithi number of Oct. '81 and read

it in full at Shirdi itself. The 'leela' contained in the two articles

published therein impressed me much because both of them are parallel to my

own life's happenings. The first article is by Devata Subba Rao and the

second one is by Gokul Gopal.

 

Here I wish to narrate my own parallel experience with reference to the

marriage episode of Mr. Krishnamoorty's daughter published in the above

magazine on page 14 to 16. My eldest daughter Kum Indu Tripathi, aged 23,

passed her M.A. in Economics in II nd Div, and then again M.A, in Hindi in

the 1st Division. I was much worried about her marriage. I simply went on

writing letters to my friends in this connection, but it was of no avail. My

wife continually and critically nagged me for not stirring out in search of

a suitable groom. I always told her not to worry for our Lord Sai Baba will

facilitate and marriage. Each and every thing at the time He thinks fit, but

she persisted and made me sad.

 

Our Lord was so kind and gracious to Indu as to grant her darshan time and

again in her dreams. I had taken her to Puttaparthi for Vjjayadasami

festival in Oct. '79 with a firm belief that Baba knows my problems well and

He will solve them at the appropriate time. Only a few months after that

journey, the Govt. of M. P. selected my College to organize a workshop on

Re-orientation of Teaching Methods in English in the Colleges, One of my

best friends, Prof. Dinesh Chandra Tripathi, Asst. Professor of English at

MANDLA (M. P.) participated therein. We both had been colleagues formerly at

T. R. S. College, Rewa for a few years. When I met him at Betul, I found the

same sweetness and light in his behavior as ever. I put my problem number

one before him about the marriage of my daughter. He very graciously gave me

then and there the name and address of Shri Kamalakar Mishra, A.D.I.S,

MANDLA and asked me to contact him by post. Shri Kamalakar Mishra's eldest

son Shrikant Mishra, Advocate was an eminently eligible young man. Naturally

so many rich and ambitious parents were already in contact with Shri

Kamalakar Mishraji with attractive proposals for his son. A poor teacher in

the College, I had little to offer except sweetness and light. But as this

match was suggested by my sincere friend and well-wisher, I began to

visualize, this boy as a fit 'groom’ to my daughter without even caring to

see him once. But Shri Kamalakar Mishra insisted that it was my 'FIRST

RIGHT' to visit Mandla and see his son before further talks could go on. So

I had to go and see the boy at Mandla and approved of him.

 

(to be contd.....)

 

A. P. Tripathi

Head of Hindi Department

, Betel. M.P.

 

(Source Shri Sai Leela Magazine June 1982)